(KEEP) Khomas Environmental Education Programme - QUARTERLY UPDATE January - March 2021 - Giraffe Conservation ...

Khomas Environmental
Education Programme
       (KEEP)
    QUARTERLY UPDATE
    January – March 2021

Our Khomas Environmental Education Programme (KEEP) is running in its fifth year of implementation
this year and we are proud of the impact we have had on Namibian primary school students so far. Since
its inception in 2016, KEEP has hosted over 10,000 young Namibians from the Khomas Region and further
afield and we would like to extend our gratitude to the schools and groups that have made KEEP a fixture
in their annual calendars and regularly bring their students to participate in our exciting programme year
after year.

Despite the challenges we faced last year due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the year 2021 started off on
a bright note and it almost feels like things are back to normal in the field – with sufficient social distancing
and masks in place of course. The first KEEP participants this year were a group of third-year Nature
Conservation students from the University of Science and Technology (NUST). This is their third time to
participate in KEEP and as usual, their field visit was part of their programme’s Environmental Education
(EE) module for the students to experience environmental education in action, to get hands-on
experience to acquire new skills and experience what it means to teach EE effectively. We hope other
Namibian institutions that also offer EE modules will follow suit and allow their students to get exposed
and experience EE in action to enhance their practical skills in EE.

In more amazing news, KEEP has hosted students from five different primary schools in February and
March. All these schools were repeat-participants in KEEP, which confirms the high quality and the value
of our programme. Developing strong relationships with schools is an important objective for KEEP and
shows our team that they are doing an amazing job.

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So far in 2021, our team has hosted 645 students and 22 teachers. This means that in the first quarter of
2021 we have already had more participants than in all of 2020. We are currently booking schools for the
second term and spaces are filling up quickly. It looks like everybody is keen to get out and about this
year, which is fantastic.

Most parts of Namibia have receiving plenty of rainfall
already this year – including the Khomas Region. From
our experience, this is the best time to take groups
out into the field as the participants get to see a lot of
different animals and plants – the bush is so much
busier than during the dry seasons. With the rain
comes an opportunity to see a many different
creatures such as frogs, millepedes, snakes and other
small insects. There is also plenty of larger wildlife
around and many animals have babies with plenty of
food around. Spotting wildlife calves is always a
highlight and the most exciting sights for our young
participants – as was spotting a puffadder recently.

In addition to our normal participants, our KEEP team was also joined by Stephane Rossard for a day in
the field. Stephane the founder of Safaris en Afrique Voyages, the first French website dedicated to
Namibia and South Africa. The site also features stories on African personalities who make a positive
contribution to Africa through conservation, so who better to portrait than our amazing KEEP team. He
joined the team together with a school group to get the full experience. It is always a great opportunity
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to host visitors in the field and show them our amazing programme and get them to experience our
team’s passion for conservation first-hand.

We have recently reviewed all eight EE episodes that our team has filmed with Tribefire Studios. We will
film a few pick-up takes and expect all episodes to be finalised in the next month or so. Stay tuned to see
our amazing GCF team on TV soon.

As always, we would like to thank our generous donors for their continued support. Allowing us some
flexibility with budget lines has been an amazing help during these difficult times. With salaries secured
and our KEEP team intact, we are excited to continue implementing our successful KEEP field programme.

                                 Thank you for your continued support.

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